Monday, May 4, 2015

#Obamacare Update: "Significant increase in emergency-room visits"

A survey of 2,098 emergency-room doctors conducted in
March showed about three-quarters said visits had risen since January
2014. That was a significant uptick from a year earlier, when less than
half of doctors surveyed reported an increase. The survey by the
American College of Emergency Physicians is scheduled to be published
Monday.
Medicaid recipients newly insured under the health law are struggling
to get appointments or find doctors who will accept their coverage, and
consequently wind up in the ER, ACEP said. Volume might also be
increasing due to hospital and emergency-department closures—a
long-standing trend.
“There was a grand theory the law would reduce ER visits,” said Dr.
Howard Mell, a spokesman for ACEP. “Well, guess what, it hasn’t
happened. Visits are going up despite the ACA, and in a lot of cases
because of it.”